In July, Vamos was honoured to perform at Perigueux International Mime Festival, the leading international festival in France for mime.

The same team who toured the UK last Spring performed The Best Thing on the main stage of the central theatre: l'Odyssee to an audience of over 700 people, one of our largest yet.

Taking part in the festival also gave Vamos an opportunity to make connections at two Rencontres Matinales, events where press, programmers and the general public are invited to come and hear interviews with the visiting companies performing that day. Our General Manager, Charlotte, spoke about Vamos’s history, about the UK arts scene and the themes and research which has informed the making of The Best Thing. Vamos’s Artistic Director Rachael talked about the links between puppetry and full mask theatre, about the ethos of the Company and the politics behind her work as an artist.

Marie-Jo from Mimos did a fantastic job to secure French press interest in the show, and Rachael and Charlotte did a number of press interviews in the run up to the festival over the phone from the UK, as well as having a press photo call on the day.

Charlotte commented, "France is the home of mime as far as us Brits are concerned, and so we were honoured to be invited to be part of this leading international festival. We realised that French audiences are more used to comic and abstract mask, and our mask work is very real and rooted in social issues. So the festival was a really interesting opportunity for cultural exchange and conversation. We hope that it is the start of an on-going relationship with this fantastic festival"

Mimos is not only prestigious, it is also incredibly well run, welcoming and organised, and was a joy to take part in.We’d like to say a very big thank you to everyone at Mimos, including the excellent technical team led by Théo Gagnon. Particular thanks go to Festival Director, Chantal Achilli, and Programme Manager, Dominique Couvreur, for their support and belief in our work and for inviting us to be part of Mimos, giving us the opportunity to share our unique brand of full mask theatre with French audiences.